Sales KPIs: the B2B metrics that matter, with formulas and how to track them

The short answer

The B2B sales KPIs that matter fall into four groups along the funnel. Activity: calls, emails and meetings booked, which say whether the work is being done. Pipeline: pipeline created, coverage ratio, stage conversion, sales cycle length, average deal size and win rate, which say whether that work turns into deals. Revenue: bookings, MRR or ARR, net revenue retention and churn, which say what you actually earn and keep. Efficiency: customer acquisition cost (CAC), CAC payback and LTV:CAC, which say whether growth pays for itself. Each has a fixed formula, and most can be read straight from standard CRM fields: create date, close date, amount, stage, owner and logged activities. A 10-person team should start with five: meetings held, qualified pipeline created, win rate, sales cycle length and coverage ratio.

Definitions follow common B2B usage; CRM report names come from the HubSpot and Pipedrive help centres, read on 1 October 2026. We give no benchmark numbers: published ones mix company sizes and business models, and your own last four quarters are the better baseline.

Activity KPIs

Activity KPIs measure input. They help coaching but are useless as a goal on their own: volume on the wrong list produces nothing.

• Calls. Dials made and conversations held. Formula: logged calls with outcome "connected" ÷ calls made. In the CRM: log every call with an outcome, then report by owner and week.

• Emails. Sequence emails sent and replies received. Formula: replies ÷ emails delivered. In the CRM: sync the mailbox or sequencing tool so sends and replies land on the contact record.

• Meetings booked and held. Formula: meetings held ÷ meetings booked. In the CRM: a meeting activity with an outcome ("held", "no show", "rescheduled"). This is the core number for an SDR.

Pipeline KPIs

Pipeline KPIs measure whether activity becomes opportunities that close. They need stages with clear entry and exit rules, set out in the guide to the sales pipeline.

• Pipeline created. The value of new qualified opportunities in a period. Formula: sum of deal amounts with a create date in the period, qualified stage and later.

• Coverage ratio. Whether there is enough open pipeline to hit the target. Formula: open pipeline value with a close date in the period ÷ target still to close. The ratio you need is roughly 1 ÷ your win rate by value: if you win one euro in four, you need about four times the remaining target.

• Stage conversion. The share of deals that move from one stage to the next. Formula: deals that reached stage B ÷ deals that reached stage A. In the CRM: HubSpot's deal funnel report shows conversion rates and time spent per stage; in Pipedrive, Insights has a deal conversion report with a funnel view.

• Sales cycle length. How long a won deal takes. Formula: average days from opportunity create date to close date, won deals only. In the CRM: HubSpot's sales analytics suite includes deal velocity and time spent in deal stage; Pipedrive's Insights has a deal duration report in days.

• Average deal size. Formula: total value of won deals ÷ number of won deals. Split new customers from expansion, or one large renewal skews it.

• Win rate. Formula: won deals ÷ (won deals + lost deals) in the period. Open deals do not count; Pipedrive's win/loss report works the same way. Track it by count and by value, and require a lost reason on every lost deal.

Revenue KPIs

• Bookings. Contract value signed in a period, invoiced or not. Formula: sum of amounts on deals closed won in the period, with new, expansion and renewal reported separately. In the CRM: a deal type property makes that split possible.

• MRR and ARR. Only relevant if you sell subscriptions. Formula: MRR is the sum of recurring monthly revenue from active customers, one-off fees excluded; ARR is MRR × 12. The billing system is usually a more reliable source than the CRM.

• Net revenue retention (NRR). What existing customers pay now compared with a year ago. Formula: (starting MRR + expansion - contraction - churned MRR) ÷ starting MRR, for customers that existed at the start; new customers are excluded. Above 100% means the base grows without new logos. This number usually belongs to the account manager.

• Churn. Formula: customer churn is customers lost in the period ÷ customers at the start; revenue churn is MRR lost to cancellations and downgrades ÷ starting MRR. In the CRM: a customer status property with a date.

Efficiency KPIs

• CAC. What it costs to win one new customer. Formula: total sales and marketing cost in the period (salaries, tools, ads, agencies) ÷ new customers won in the period. The cost side comes from finance, the customer count from the CRM.

• CAC payback. Months until a new customer has paid back their acquisition cost. Formula: CAC ÷ (average monthly revenue per new customer × gross margin).

• LTV:CAC. Formula: customer lifetime value ÷ CAC. The lifetime value side needs churn and margin data; customer lifetime value in B2B walks through the calculation.

These three combine CRM and finance data, so they usually sit with revenue operations.